Angel, disguised as Ensign Jason Alexander Thomas, stood at a console in Voyager's engine room, making sure everything was still in order. It was, of course, but it was procedure, and he was supposed to do it when he started shift everyday.

He was waiting for Ensign O'Reilley to relieve him, and he was a few minutes late. Angel had already done his shift, and so far, nothing had happened that was out of ordinary. And, considering Voyager continued to get in as many scrapes as a group of people who had been his friends once did back in Sunnydale several hundred years ago, he counted that as a blessing. The only things that separated the problems they both had faced were that back in Sunnydale, everything had they'd dealt with had been supernatural, while here, everything could be explained and done scientifically.

Being lost in deep space did have its advantages. There weren't any demons, monsters, or Hellmouths. There were no prophecies or spells. In fact, the only vampire was himself. He had eaten Neelix's food in the mess hall before, but whenever he needed blood, he replicated it privately in his quarters.

Angel was a vampire, cursed with a gypsy ritual that had given back his soul several centuries before. A hundred years later, it had been broken, only to be restored several months later. When he wasn't cursed, he had been Angelus, the scourge of Europe. His soul made him sorry for what he had done as Angelus, and had spent his soul-filled days trying to make up for what he'd done. He had been a member of the Federation since the start, and joined Starfleet several times, hoping to help the federation anyway he could. The last time had been ten years earlier. Five years ago, he had become a member of the Voyager crew on its maiden voyage, and ended up stuck in deep space, sixty-five years from home.

He knew he couldn't hide his vampiric nature for long from the rest of the crew. Someone was bound to notice he didn't age, or that the only thing he'd replicated in his room other than fresh uniforms was not part of the food triangle. But the opportunity had yet to present itself.

The engine room doors opened, and Ensign O'Reilley stepped through. His hair was slightly ruffled, and his Comm Badge had been pinned onto his vest upside-down. Angel tried to hide his smile as he watched the Ensign straighten his jacket, then walk over to his console. "Sorry I'm late," he apologized. "Cindy said there was something wrong with her Comm Badge, and wanted me to stop by her quarters to have a look at it."

Angel smirked. "Yeah, I'm sure that's all she wanted." O'Reilley began to protest, but Angel smiled and said. "I'll be coming in late for the next shift, by the way."

O'Reilley grimaced, but didn't comment. His punishment could have been worse. "Yeah. See you then."

Angel walked out of the engine room, turning right down the hall. The turbolift was at the end of the hall, and he was eager to get to his quarters. He needed to eat. His shift had taken place during the regular lunch hour, and although he had gotten used to eating a late lunch, his stomach was rumbling.

A few doors down from the engine room were the transporter rooms. Angel passed the first one, and was about to pass the second one when the double doors opened, revealing Captain Janeway, B'Ellana, and Chakotay with other officers in Starfleet uniforms. Angel assumed they must be members of the Bumbarger's crew. He'd heard about the vessel when several ensigns and lieutenants working in the engine room were appointed to go to the ship to work on repairs.

The officers turned right, heading in the direction of the turbolift. Angel stopped walking, waiting for them to go.

Captain Janeway nodded to him, smiling, before turning away from him. The Bumbarger crewmen merely glanced at him before heading torward the turbolift with the others.

Something about them struck Angel as odd. It was a certain light in their eyes, one that they lacked. Something he associated with humans, because they possessed something everyone of his kind other than himself lacked: their souls.

One of the Bumbarger officers, a lieutenant, glanced back at him. His eyes reflected a hunger only one kind could possess.

He usually didn't use his vampiric hearing abilities. If he did, he would be hearing several heartbeats at once, twenty-four hours a day, which would be enough to drive him crazy. He used his hearing now. There were six people in the group heading up the hall to the turbolift.

Among them, he heard only three normal human heartbeats.

The others had heartbeats that were so slow, he almost didn't hear them. But after several seconds, he did.

He wasn't the only vampire in the Delta Quadrant anymore.

He had to tell the Captain. But he couldn’t do it while the Bumbarger officers were there. He just hoped he wasn't too late.

He waited several seconds before going in the same direction as the group did. The turbolift doors opened to reveal that it was empty. Which meant the others were somewhere on the ship. And who knew when they would get tired of acting like good Starfleet officers, and when they would bring out the fangs.

Angel stepped into the turbolift. He would go to his quarters and eat like he had planned. Because he was off-duty for the next few hours, no one would question his uniform if he decided not to wear it. And no one would see the stakes and other weapons he planned to conceal.

Several hours later, Janeway stepped into the turbolift. "Bridge," she told the computer. The turbolift started traveling upwards.

She'd spent the past few hours with Captain Paulus, figuring out what Voyager could spare to repair the Bumbarger. The parts that need the most repair and replacement parts were several holodecks, the bridge, and the cargo hold. The engine room had been badly damaged, but did not need as many replacement parts.

After that had been settled, Paulus had filled her in on recent news in the Alpha Quadrant. There had been a war recently with the Dominion, and Paulus was happy to report that the Federation had won over a year before. Paulus had heard about a project made to try to contact Voyager and get it home, and knew they were making progress, which was comforting.

Janeway had gotten no information from Paulus concerning the speed of their heartbeats. She'd tried to be as discreet as possible, but it felt as if Paulus knew her intentions, as if she had secrets. And after their last encounter with a Starfleet vessel in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway wasn't sure if those secrets should be kept.

The turbolift came to a stop and the doors opened. It didn't stop at the Bridge, however. It was on another deck.

A man stood there, dressed in black jeans, a white shirt, and a trench coat. She recognized him as one of Ensigns who worked in engineering during the ___shift.

He walked into the turbolift, and the doors slid closed behind him. "Heading to the holodeck, Ensign?" Janeway asked.

The man glanced down at his clothes, then back at her. He said, "Captain, there's something I need to tell you about the Bumbarger crew."

Janeway raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"I know why their heartbeats are so slow," Angel told her. "But I can't tell you now. I need to tell this to the entire senior staff, if that's all right, Captain?"

Janeway regarded the Ensign. If this young man had some knowledge of what was going on, the senior staff needed to know right away. Janeway nodded. "What's your name, Ensign?"

"Jason Thomas, ma'am."

"Okay, Thomas, let's go to the briefing room."

A few minutes later, the entire senior staff was sitting in the briefing room. Angel stood in front of their table, silent as Janeway told her officers, "Ensign Thomas here has informed me that he knows why the Bumbarger crew have slow heartbeats. He says he will explain. Ensign?"

Angel took a deep breath, although as a vampire he didn't really need it. Everyone in the room would know that in only a few short minutes. "The crew of U. S. S. Bumbarger were human once. They aren't anymore."

"Well, what are they?" Harry Kim asked.

They were going to think he was nuts. "They're vampires."

There was a pause. "Would you care to repeat that, Ensign?" Chakotay asked.

"They're vampires," Angel repeated. "The very blood-sucking demons that have been an Earth myth for thousands of years. They're real."

"This is ridiculous," B'Ellana said. "Believing in vampires would be the same thing as believing in the tooth fairy."

"Lieutenant Torres is correct," Tuuvok said. "Vampires were created to frighten people who strayed from the Church several centuries ago. To believe they were real would not be logical."

"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Angel asked. "But sometimes, things you always that were fairy tales can be real. If you want a scientific explanation, think of hell as another dimension. The inhabitants of this dimension are demons, and they need to possess human corpses in order to stay in this dimension."

"Do you have any proof, Ensign?" Seven asked.

"Yes, I do. I'm a vampire."

"You're a what?" Tom asked.

His face transformed into the one of a demon. The skin on his forehead rose and slid half-way over his eyes, which had turned a dark, dirty yellow. Angel opened his mouth wide, showing off his fangs to a very shocked group of people.

Angel's face transformed back to normal, and he continued his explanation. "My real name is Angel, which is short for Angelus. Jason Thomas is one of the many aliases I've used over the past four hundred years."

"If you have a heartbeat as slow as the Bumbarger crews'-" The doctor said. Angel nodded in confirmation. "-then why haven't I ever noticed when you came in for check-ups?"

"Actually, you did, doctor," Angel told him. "Computer, restore the doctor's memories of my doctor appointments over the past five years, code-name seven-alpha-angel-two."

The computer chirped, and the doctor blinked. His eyes widened. "Oh. I guess I did notice." He looked at the vampire, angry now. "You erased my memories!"

"Yes, why did you do that, Ensign?"

"To cover up my nature, captain. Over the centuries, I've tried to be as discreet as possible. In the past, I've had doctors that I've trusted enough to tell my secret to him or her. I didn't know the doctor enough to trust him, so I had to take a different path."

"So, you're a vampire." Tom said.

Angel nodded. "We must be extremely careful around the Bumbarger crew. They're dangerous, and can not be trusted."

"Why not, Thomas?" Janeway asked. "If they're like you, there's no reason we shouldn't be kind."

"They aren't like me, Captain. They have no souls."

"Explain."

"When I was brought across, I had no soul. A soul gives you remorse, guilt, kindness, mercy. I lost it the moment I became a vampire. I loved to kill. Like the rest of my kind, I had no conscience to hold me back. Until I killed the favorite daughter of a gypsy clan. They cursed me, by returning me soul. Gave me back remorse, and love, and guilt, so I may suffer for all of eternity. These vampires have no souls, and they won't hesitate to eat all of you. Right now, they're playing with you, but sooner or later, they'll get hungry."

"So what do we do?" Chakotay asked.

"We have to kill them, Commander."

"We do have a policy of not killing the members of any species, Ensign," Janeway reminded him. "I'd rather deal with this in a much less violent way."

"It's not an option, captain. They will kill you if you aren't prepared. Trust me, if you kill them, you're doing them a favor."

Janeway though about this for a moment. "So, how do we deal with them?"

"A vampire can die several ways-stake through the heart, burning, beheading. A phaser blast to the chest will not work, but one to the head will, if it's aimed at the neck. Sunlight will kill them, too. Crosses and holy water will hurt them, but won't kill them." He looked around at everyone. "Has anyone invited any of the Bumbarger's crew into their quarters?"

The senior staff shook their heads. Janeway did, too, then stopped. "I invited Captain Paulus into my ready room. Does that count?"

Angel nodded. "Any space on this ship that is private and not public does."

"What importance does it have with our current problem, Ensign?" Tuuvok asked.

"A vampire can't come in unless it's invited, but only if it's a private place."

Janeway nodded. "Okay. What if these vampires have souls like you do?"

Angel shook his head. "They don't. When you passed me in the hall earlier today, I saw it in their eyes. There was nothing human about that look, Captain."

"What if he's the only one without a soul?" Tom asked. "You didn't see the others' eyes, did you?"

Angel shook his head again. "No. But it's very unlikely. The Ritual of Restoration, the curse that restored my soul, has been lost for three hundred years. Even if we had it, we'd still need an Orb of Thelusa."

"We'd better be prepared, just in case," Janeway said. "Can vampires eat regular food?"

"Yes, we can."

Janeway said. "I think we should invite them to dinner."

"Captain, I don't think that the wisest coarse of action," Angel advised.

"I want to see if there's a better way around this first, Ensign. I don't want to kill them unnecessarily. But I want you nearby just in case. You've just been invited to dinner." She turned to Tuuvok. "Tuuvok, get as many security personnel as you can. Use whatever weapons you need. Make sure they're ready to help if our guests prove to be hostile." She turned to the rest of the senior staff. "Whoever wants to come to dinner, your support will be greatly appreciated. I understand if any of you have qualms about eating with a bunch of vampires."

B'Ellana shook her head. "I'm still a little skeptical about all this. I want to see it for myself." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Harry said, "If they are what he says they are, you'll need all the help you can get."

Angel told them everything they'd need, and the meeting ended. "I'll go make the call," Janeway said, and everyone left.

The Senior Staff of the U. S. S. Bumbarger sat around the long glass table in the ship's briefing room, lounging in high-backed chairs. Paulus sat at the head. On the left side was Bernstein, then her engineer Blake Neilson, and her security chief Angela Dupuis. On the right side of the table was her science officer, Hudson, her chief medical doctor Dr. James Yeoman, and her pilot James McCannel. All had their game faces on, and none of them looked very pleased.

"When do we stop this charade?" Neilson asked, growling. "Lieutenant Torres is an aggravating half-Klingon, but she would make an excellent vampire."

"That E. M. H. pipsqueak should be deleted permanently," Dr. Yeoman said.

"Enough," Paulus said. "I have made my decision."

Everyone stopped voicing their complaints and waited for her to finish.

When Paulus had everyone's attention, she smiled, then said, "The Bumbarger isn't very heavily damaged. Even with repairs, it won't have what we want. However, Voyager does. We strike tonight."

Her crew smiled, some showing off sharp, yellowed fangs dripping with blood from recently replicated meals.

Bernstein licked his lips and leaned toward his childe. "That makes me very pleased, Samantha."

Paulus answered, leaning closer, "I knew it would." She kissed his neck and bit the skin above his nerve, which she knew he liked. He shivered in pleasure, then grabbed her head and kissed her fiercely. After a few minutes, Paulus drew back, still smiling. "We'll have enough time for that later," she said. She turned to address all of her crew. "Captain Janeway has invited us to dinner. We wouldn't want to disappoint her, would we?"

"I'll make sure all of the security guards are ready to beam aboard to help with the feast," Angela Dupuis, her security chief, assured her.

Paulus smiled. "Okay, everyone. This meeting is adjourned."

Angel stood with Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay, and Tuuvok in transporter room three. All had weapons concealed within their vests and stuck in the waste lines of the pants. They were what Angel had suggested-stakes, holy water, etc.

Angel glanced down the row at the officers. Janeway and Chakotay looked very nervous, although they were trying to cover it, and Tuuvok remained impassive. But after spending years around Vulcans and various other races, he was sure he sure anxiety reflecting in his eyes.

to be continued

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